TV news source soldiers urged to report to inquiry

Soldiers who anonymously gave controversial information to Channel 4 News about Bloody Sunday were urged tonight to come forward and identify themselves to the public inquiry into the shootings.

The appeal was made by a lawyer representing the family of one of the 13 people shot dead by troops on January 30, 1972 during legal submissions on whether two Channel 4 News journalists be ordered to break pledges of confidentiality to the soldiers by identifying them.

Lawyers from all sides in the inquiry united to urge Lord Saville and his tribunal to order presenter Alex Thomson and his former producer Lena Ferguson to name their sources.

Lord Saville himself, during submissions by the lawyer for ITN - which produces Channel 4 News - that no such order be made, pointed out that all military witnesses to the inquiry had anonymity.

He asked: ‘‘so what is the problem?’’.

The two journalists made clear to the inquiry while giving evidence today that they wanted to help the inquiry fully - short of breaking their guarantee of confidentiality to their four soldier sources.

During his submission, Lord Gifford QC issued a plea to the soldiers to release the journalists from their undertaking by coming forward themselves to the inquiry.

He said the soldiers had ‘‘done a part of your moral duty’’ by going forward to Channel 4 News in 1997 because their consciences demanded it and they had something important to say.

‘‘You hoped by making it public that would lead to something being done to ensure that the whole truth about Bloody Sunday was eventually known,’’ said Lord Gifford.

In part, because of what they had done, the inquiry had been set up. He said that before the inquiry was established the soldiers had little or no protection and were justified in remaining completely unidentified.

Things had changed and if they came forward now they would be afforded ‘‘every possible protection’’.

Lord Gifford said to them directly: ‘‘You cannot do half your duty. You have, we suggest, a duty to the families who are so desperate to know the truth, to the wider public, to the journalists - who may face imprisonment rather than break their undertakings to you - and you have a duty to your own conscience.’’

But Arthur Caldecott QC for ITN argued that there was a ‘‘public interest in the free flow of information to the press, especially information which tends to expose significant wrong-doing’’.

He said to order the journalists to reveal their sources would have far reaching effects for the future.

If people did not feel they could go to the press in confidence and the press could not expose wrong-doing ‘‘there will be no investigations and there will not be the process of inquiry which stems from it.’’

He cited Article 10 of the Human Rights Act in defence of the journalists but Lord Saville said that under the same Article, on matters of ‘‘state or alleged state killing,’’ there should be ‘‘proper, complete and full inquiry’’.

The argument will continue tomorrow and it remains unclear when Lord Saville will give his ruling.

Earlier, Mr Thomson launched a stinging attack from the witness box on a lawyer representing a number of military witnesses for his treatment of Ms Ferguson, who has now left Channel 4 News and works for the BBC in Belfast.

After crossing swords a number of times with Edwin Glasgow, QC, during his own evidence he accused him of being ‘‘extremely unfair, frankly disgraceful’’ during his examination of Ms Ferguson.

He added: ‘‘I have to say I was very surprised she was put through an experience like that in a tribunal we were warned was non-adversarial.’’

Mr Glasgow suggested during questioning of Ms Ferguson that she had not wanted to hand over to the inquiry her notes of interviews with the soldiers, not because they would identify the soldiers, but because they painted a very different picture to a ‘‘grossly distorted programme’’ she had transmitted about Bloody Sunday.

She strongly denied his accusation the notes told ‘‘a very different story from the story Channel 4 wished to put out in the programme.’’

The notes were produced to the inquiry today after an instruction yesterday from Lord Saville.

She and lawyers from ITN who produce Channel 4 News worked overnight to gather the notes and produce them for the inquiry, with only items which would identify the soldiers blanked out.

Mr Glasgow said the notes showed a large number of deletions from the abridged notes she had originally provided to the inquiry had referred to firing at troops.

He said: ‘‘Firing down Chamberlain Street, firing by the IRA, all of which were redacted under the pretence that you were trying to protect your source, whereas what you were actually doing was trying to conceal the fact that you have put out a grossly distorted programme, is that fair ?’’ said Mr Glasgow.

Ms Ferguson responded: ‘‘I think it is completely unfair to say that we put out a totally distorted programme and I think it is absolutely wrong to imply that was why we had redacted the material.’’